Lawsuit alleges Fremont Mayor Lily Mei told police she was blackmailed with personal photos she sent to an Alameda County official
Lawsuit may link retaliation allegations against the city by police officer who later committed suicide, and Fremont city manager charged of embezzlement
CITY NEWS
FREMONT
—GATHERING STORM—A Fremont police detective who also served as president of the Fremont Police Officers Association, alleged in a lawsuit that Fremont Mayor Lily Mei reported to him that she had been blackmailed and extorted by an unnamed individual. Mei also reported the incident to then-Fremont Police Chief Kim Peterson.
—Details behind the alleged extortion and blackmail were not offered in the lawsuit filed on Nov. 30 by Fremont Police Det. Michael Gebhardt against the City of Fremont and the Fremont Police Department.
—But the source used to allegedly blackmail and extort Mei was personal photos she sent to an elected Alameda County official, according to the lawsuit.
—Last September, news of Mei’s lurid sexts to an Alameda County elected official was reported here. The sexts were the result of an affair that occurred sometime around 2015.
—During Mei’s unsuccessful campaign for the 10th Sate Senate District this fall, she avoided questions about the existence of the photos, calling the report sexist, racist, and misogynistic.
—But according to the lawsuit, Mei confirmed the photos indeed exist and they were used against her with malicious intent.
—Mei alerted Gebhardt about the alleged blackmail and extortion incident in early August 2020, the lawsuit alleges, just as Mei was ramping up her re-election campaign for Fremont mayor. In response, Gebhardt initiated a criminal investigation of the incident, he said in the lawsuit.
“On or around August 4, 2020, Plaintiff learned from the Fremont City Mayor, who was running for re-election, that she was being extorted and blackmailed with private photos she had sent to another elected Alameda County official. Plaintiff recognized the gravity of the situation and immediately began a criminal investigation,” according to the lawsuit.
—READ THE ENTIRE LAWSUIT HERE
—Mei also told Police Chief Peterson about the same blackmail and extortion incident, the lawsuit alleges. Mei added that Peterson instructed her to record the phone conversation with the suspected blackmailer, Gebhardt alleges in the lawsuit.
—Gebhardt believed Peterson’s instructions to Mei were unlawful, and he reported it to Fremont Police Capt. Fred Bobbitt. Gebhardt also reported the alleged blackmail and extortion against Mei to the FBI, according to the lawsuit.
The Mayor informed Plaintiff that she had already spoken to Chief Kimberly Peterson the day before about the extortion and blackmail. The Chief had advised the Mayor to simply record the blackmail calls and had not begun any type of criminal investigation. Plaintiff believed that Chief Peterson’s order to the Mayor to record the telephone calls was unlawful and outside of accepted police practices,” the lawsuit continues.
“Accordingly, that same day, Plaintiff engaged in protected activity and reported what he believed to be violations of law to Captain Fred Bobbitt. Additionally, on August 4, 2020, Plaintiff again engaged in protected activity when he reported the blackmail and extortion against the Mayor to the FBI.”
—The reference to Capt. Bobbitt is notable. Bobbitt asserted during the same timeframe laid out in Gebhardt’s lawsuit that the city and police department also retaliated against him. Bobbitt committed suicide in February 2022. His family filed a lawsuit against the city, police department, and Mei last month.
—At this point, it’s possible the Bobbitt and Gebhardt lawsuits, along with the controversy involving former Fremont City Manager Mark Danaj, are somehow tied together.
—According to Gebhardt’s lawsuit, he testified as a witness in Bobbitt’s grievance hearing against the city and police department in 2021 for alleged discrimination and retaliation.
—In Gebhardt’s lawsuit he says Danaj told him that he was not racist against Black people because he was going to hire Capt. Sean Washington to be the city’s next police chief. Washington is African American.
—Danaj abruptly resigned as city manager in September 2021. The Fremont City Council gave Danaj a severance package worth roughly $300,000. But it was later learned that Danaj had allegedly stolen $18,000 from the city coffers by way of personal purchases.
—Last June, he was charged with embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds. It remains unknown if Mei and the Fremont City Council knew about Danaj’s alleged felonious acts before they approved his severance package.
—Gebhardt said the incident involving Mei and Peterson is just part of repeated attempts by the city and police department to retaliate against him for speaking out against the department.
—In far more detail, the lawsuit alleges the police department retaliated against him after he raised questions about the department illegally recording the phone conversations between juveniles and their attorneys while they were held in the custody of Fremont police.
